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The Accident Register: What Counts, What to Write Down, and How Long to Keep It

Updated September 2026

The accident register is one of the five areas a new-entrant safety audit reviews, and it is the easiest to have ready — it is a short list. Most of the work is knowing which events belong on it.

What counts as an accident

Under 49 CFR 390.5, an accident is an occurrence involving a commercial motor vehicle operating on a highway that results in any one of:

  1. A fatality.
  2. Bodily injury to a person who, as a result, immediately receives medical treatment away from the scene.
  3. Disabling damage to one or more motor vehicles, requiring the vehicle to be towed or otherwise carried from the scene.

Fault doesn't enter into it — if another driver hit your parked truck hard enough that either vehicle was towed, it belongs on the register. On the other hand, the definition excludes an occurrence involving only boarding or getting out of a stationary vehicle, and one involving only loading or unloading cargo. A scraped bumper both drivers drive away from is not a federal accident, whatever your insurer calls it.

What the register records

For each accident, 390.15(b) asks for:

  • The date
  • The city or town (or the nearest one) and the state
  • The driver's name
  • The number of injuries
  • The number of fatalities
  • Whether hazardous materials, other than fuel spilled from the fuel tanks of the vehicles involved, were released

Alongside the list, keep copies of all accident reports required by state or other governmental entities or insurers.

How long

Three years after the date of each accident (390.15(b)).

If you've had none

Then there is nothing to list — but you will still be asked. The useful habit is to have a register that exists: a single page, headed with your company name and USDOT number, that you can hand over and say truthfully that there are no entries. It answers the question in ten seconds instead of starting a conversation about whether you know what one is.

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This is general information, not legal advice, and RelayPoint is not a law firm or a compliance consultant. Sources: 49 CFR 390.5 (definition of accident and of disabling damage) and 390.15 (assistance in investigations; accident register), as published in September 2026. Post-accident drug and alcohol testing for CDL drivers (49 CFR 382.303) and any state or insurer reporting duties are separate and not covered here. Confirm your obligations with the FMCSA or your state's motor carrier authority.